The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-11-08
THE FLOWER OF FASHION
Great Preparations for the Opening of
the Chrysanthemum Show Tonight.
TomIinson Hall Transformed Into Place of
Great Beauty-History and Peculiarities of
the Chrysanthemum, the Autumn Queen.

The florists of the city were busily engaged
yesterday arranging plants and decorations in
Tomlnson Hall. where the chrysanthemum
show will open this evening. Enough had been
done last night to show that when the work is
completed day the hall will be place of great
beauty. The contents of the green-h houses of
the city will be transported to Tomlnson Hall.
and besides, shipments of flowers
will be received from the East,
including rare collection of orchids.
The chrysanthemum, the principal flower of
the exhibit, is called by florists the Queen of
Autumn, and there is no flower, next to the rose.
extensively used. 1t came from China and
Japan, and long before it actually known
here was made familiar to the general public by
the free use of its form and hues in the decora-
tive work of the Japanese. 1t is now the flower
of fashion, and chrysanthemum shows are held
annually in many of the large cities of this coun-
try. The flower grows many colors and
shapes. A treat OF inestlmable value and
to which its Proteus-like power of variation is
due is that in the composite the bloom Is not a
single flower, is a rose or lily, butts composed
of number of flowers, running up into the
hundreds The sunhower, which presents the
type u large scale, is composrd of border of
gay ray flowers. with a central disc composed OF
hundreds of star-shaped tubular flowers, each
one a perfect seed producing flower. Thus it IS
with the chrysanthemum in It's simplest form,
tivaton not only does the whole bloom change
in color and form, but each individual little
flower has it's own ideas of personal variation
and multiplies the change a hundred fold.
In the simplest form the bloom of the chrys-
anthemum consists of a central disc of green
ish yellow hue surrounded by rows of slender
ray flowers popularity called "DETAILS" of the
same or different hue. the case may be. The
Zion John Welsh" has yellow disc flowers
with rich border of deep crimson rays The
disc flowers are tubular and star shaped
On yorto-
tions of the blooms under cultiva-
ton. The ray flowers are mostly fiat,
although sometimes tubular, as in the case of
the Mrs. Cleveland, which is a beautiful white
specimen, consisting of round mass of deli
cate. white, slender. radiated tubular flowers.
Although the rays are real flowers and not mere
used to tho exclusion of the more correct term,
and in all popular descriptions it is employed in
describing the flowers.
The ''PhGbusn is example of variation
petals. making q rounded mass of yellow rays.
while in the John Thorpe jr." the disk flowers
flowers. surrounded with chrome yellow
border. The IN. Corbay" and the Eugene
Mizard" are EXAMPLES where the
tubular flowers are deveoped into
long. slender quilts, the outer and the inner
side of the petals being of different hues, giving
a fine effect. In the Eugene Mizard" the inner
part of the quill is pale pink and the onter
deep amarauth red. In the IN. Corbay" it is
the outer part that is pale pink color, while
the tn be is dark maroon.
There two STYLES in the general run of the
-chrysanthemum flowers. One is the Chinese
flower, which is of the pompon order, as the
Chinese florists worked in the direction of COM
pact round balls, aud the other is the flower OF
Japan, whose florists strove after the loose. fan
tastlc style, often whored and ragged, but full
of beauty. of which the deep garnet of the
sMrs John Thorpe" is type.
The history of the flower begins IN England
over fifty years ago. when the wealthy lovers of
flowers imported this new glory of the floral
kingdom into their green houses and put their
florists work cultivating and hybridiz-
ing. Attention in this country was
drawn to them but recently, and to John
Thorpe an Englishman. is duo the credit.
He is the father of the chrysanthemum in this
country. He came over from ENGLAND and Beg
tied in New York with love of the flower and
by writing an article for Harpers, about seven
years ago, excited popular interest which has in
creased from year to year until at the present
America is as far advanced in the culture of the
chrysan thamum anY country.